Teachinghearts	Gifts of the Spirit "Explore the Word. Change the World"	Statistics: Time: 30 minutes Print: 7 pages

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1 Corinthians 13 1 Corinthians 12 Romans 12: 6-8 Ephesians 4

God qualifies the called, He does not call the qualified.

This statement best summarizes the difference between gifts and talents. The gifts are supernatural abilities given by God to do His work.

Talents and Education. Talents are our best abilities that we have nurtured through practice, personality, genetics, education and interest.
Unfortunately, the gifts have become synonymous with education. While God can use our talents, they can get in the way of God communicating with us because we must rely on our internal abilities not on the external leading of God.
Often, God's methods appear very foolish, even self-destructive. But this is because we judge by our talents, common sense and common thinking.
It is the gifted that will recognize the purpose of God or have the faith to go forward, not the educated. Common thinking demands that we take the terrorist approach to attacking our problems - big, spectacular, massive appeal, recognition, and memorable. But the foolishness of God relies on the simple means and the dependent child and patience.

The gifts must be a separate phenomenon from talent and a superior human mind because it must be clear to the recipient that these abilities are not of human origin.

The Fruit of the Spirit. The gifts are also not the fruit. The fruit are permanent traits that help us to share the very nature of God. These are love, joy, peace and mercy.
The gifts are used to help the church in the present. They are temporary abilities needed while we have to battle evil. Some are administrative gifts which help the church run more efficiently. Others are gifts of evangelism which bring others to God. Others are gifts of community which help us to bond together.
Because the Holy Spirit distributes the gifts according to His will and the needs of the church at the present moment, you might find a different set of gifts predominating at different points in time.

• Early Church. The mission for a small group of people was to spread the gospel to the whole world. As such, the gift of tongues was widely distributed so that they could communicate and quickly overcome the greatest barriers to their target audience. Within twenty years, martyrdom was the gift that they needed the most.
• Dark Ages. The mission was survival and faith in a climate of repression by the church. Therefore, the gifts of teaching and martyrdom were the means for keeping the church alive.
• Reformation. Knowledge, faith and courage were needed to recognize the will of God and to move forward.
• Advent Awakening. Prophetic guidance was needed after the close of such a long period of oppression and after the disappointment. The prophecies of Daniel were being opened and four long prophetic time periods had just come to an end. This also follows a pattern of using a great prophet to introduce a prophetic time period and then calling a minor prophet at the close of that period.

  Time Prophecy	End	Beginning Gift	Major Prophet	Closing Prophet	Ending Gift
  430 years in Egypt	1502 B.C.	Faith	Abraham	Moses	Miracles
  70 year captivity in Babylon	457 B.C.	Prophecy	Jeremiah	Daniel	Prophecy
  490 years remaining for the Jews	34 A.D.	Prophecy	Daniel	Jesus	Miracles
  1260 years of persecution	1798	Prophecy	Daniel, John	Reformers	Knowledge
  2300 years to restore the sanctuary	1844	Prophecy	Daniel	Ellen White	Prophecy

• Last Days. Interpretation of prophecy, evangelism, and with an expected increase in demonic activity, I would expect that exorcism may be a gift we will often use. We also expect the demonic forces to be performing miracles as proof that God is on their side. Therefore, because of the latter rain, we will have a revival of the spectacular gifts exhibited by Christ.
  And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. (Joel 2: 28 )

The Structure of the Church.
We must recognize the real structure of the church in order to work effectively and win this battle.

• Christ. He is the head of the church. Therefore, any programs we do must be according to His will as revealed in the Bible.
• Holy Spirit. He decides how the gifts should be distributed.
• Church leaders. Recognize the big picture and focus our programs to reach this goal. As such they should teach the people about their gifts and help them to recognize it. As they recognize the distribution of the gifts among the church members, they can also see the will of God.
• Church members. Do the will of God according to our gifts.

The Gifts.
The gifts are given so that we can accomplish the will of God stated in the great commission
And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and look, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". (Matthew 28: 18-20)

Sowing The Seed.
God has sown the Seed. We are all seedlings in the garden of God. Everyone has been given a measure of faith. This is the seed planted in everyone so that we can respond as He calls the whole world.
... as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. (Romans 12: 3)
The first and most important seed is the gift of Christ.
The Father Sends the Son. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. (John 14: 10)
The Son Sends the Spirit. I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever. (John 14: 16)
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. (John 16: 7)
And the Spirit gives us gifts. But the Spirit and the gifts are only given to those who obey Him.
... And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. (Acts 5: 32)

Church Planting Gifts.
The ability to reach new people by going outside your culture. This is a ministry to the unbeliever. Seedlings from the garden are planted in other places to establish new groups of believers.

• Apostle. One with leadership over many churches.
• Evangelist. One who makes a short term commitment to share the gospel with unbelievers in many places so that they will make a decision for Christ.
• Missionary. One who makes a long term commitment to share the gospel with unbelievers and use other gifts in another culture or a designated place.
• Martyr. One who gives their life for God. They accept the danger in order to spread the gospel. They submit to death rather than deny the will of God, but they do not cause their death to defend their faith. A martyr is not a suicide bomber.

Church Building Gifts.
The ability to orderly manage the church and to lead the members to accomplish the will of God. This is a ministry to the believer. Through knowledge of God, we bring the water of life and the light of God to make the seeds grow in a special garden until it produces trees of righteousness with fruit. They repeat the cycle by going out to plant and build new churches.

• Pastor. One who assumes a long term personal responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers.
• Teacher. One who explains God with a combination of words and symbols and presentation so that others will learn. They recognize that the Holy Spirit is there to change the hearts of the audience so that your presentation is understood.
• Administration. One who devises and executes plans for the immediate and long term benefit of the church. They ensure the orderly functioning of the church and incorporate the desires of the Holy Spirit.
• Helps. One who represents God wherever needed. They fill in the gaps by supporting the church in the many unrecognized tasks that make it run smoothly.
• Hospitality. One who represents God by kindness to guests, strangers and visitors to make them feel special.
• Voluntary Poverty. One who devotes so much personal resources and money to God that they live like the poor.
• Arts and Crafts. One who represents God by visual objects.
• Scribe. One who represents God by the written word.
• Intercession. One who pleads with God in prayer on behalf of others. One whose prayers are effective and persistent.
• Celibacy. One who remains single so that they can devote time and resources to God and concentrate their loyalty to the needs of the church. Celibacy assures the maximum use of other gifts. Jesus, Paul, Daniel and Jeremiah were single.
  You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place. (Jeremiah 16: 2)
  Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and the other in that. But I say to the unmarried and the widows that it is good for them to remain even as I. (1 Corinthians 7: 7-8)

Guidance Gifts.
The ability to understand what God wants and why. These gifts bring the church back to the right path through knowledge and warnings. This is the person who pulls the weeds and does the pruning and brings fertilizer.
When I first wrote this lesson for the web site I was aware that I had many church building gifts. As far as I knew, I did not have any guidance gifts except for an extraordinary faith and trust that made me bold. Three years later, I have all of these gifts. Since these gifts are difficult to prove to the public, they become a "proof of God" gift to the recipient. The guidance gifts prepare the church for their exposure to the world, because they direct the planting and building.

Vision or Dream? Dream. A prophetic dream is an event that begins while one is asleep. Vision. A vision is a prophetic episode that begins when one is awake. This includes those who fall asleep or go into a trance because of the vision. From my personal experience I have learned that visions can also have real sensory experiences so that one can feel, smell and taste the experience. (Revelation 10:10; Ezekiel 3: 1-3) I have also classified at least two types of visions. • Internal. All images are part of the internal senses and are experienced like a day dream that cannot be controlled. • External. All images are experienced as real external objects that look as real as any physical object.

• Prophecy. One who has the ability to know the future because God reveals it to them. Contrary to popular belief a prophet does not see the future. A true prophet of God cannot gaze into the future at will. Instead, God reveals significant portions of the past and the future to them when He wants to do so.
  
  In fact, in the old testament, a prophet was one who communicated a message from God to the people. Sometimes this has nothing to do with predicting the future. Instead, they warned Israel about their behavior and the consequences of breaking the covenant. It will cause devastation in the future unless they repented. As such, God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute to demonstrate Israel's condition and His love for the nation. He told Jeremiah to walk naked, to act out their future. In this, the prophet was called by God to show the people their condition before God and the future consequences.
  There are other concepts associated with prophecy that may be separate gifts and abilities of their own. A prophet may simply be a person who possesses all these abilities and much more and has more authority.
  • Seer. One who sees images or scenes from the past or future in a vision.
  • Dreamer. One who has dreams about the future or the concerns of God. Nebuchadnezzar had a prophetic dream but he was not a prophet.
  • Watchman. A watchman guards the church by looking for signs of danger or signs of the work of God so that they can blow the trumpet and wake up or warn the people. The three angel's message is the trumpet of the watchman to the last generations.
    Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them for Me. (Ezekiel 3: 17)
  • School of the Prophets. The existence of such schools suggests that there is some part of the work of a prophet that can be passed on to others through human instruction. So a prophet is much more than a passive recipient of knowledge from God. A prophet understands the working of God in history and they understand the law and the covenant.
• Wisdom. One who knows which choice is best, and how knowledge can best be applied to the decisions made about the work of God.
• Knowledge. One who discovers, accumulates, understands, analyzes and clarifies information about the teachings about God because of knowledge given by God.
  God promised to give wisdom and knowledge in the time of the end, so that the prophecies can be understood.

  The Gift of Knowledge By Education. Normally, a person would study, memorize and accumulate information and make links between concepts as they analyze information. At some point they can reference this internal library to analyze new information. Some people do it more efficiently than others. This is not a gift. By a Gift. This gift is experienced in reverse order of the traditional way of acquiring knowledge. In the gift of knowledge the library is immediately installed in your brain. It takes less than a second to acquire vast stores of knowledge. You know that it is there. You know when it occurs. You immediately know what it all means. But you have never studied it or known that it was relevant or important. And because you are not responsible for accumulating each piece of information, the experience initially seems strange. You can reference it as you would any accumulated knowledge. Afterwards, you have to go though your mind and write down all that it means in your own words. It took less than a second for the Holy Spirit to send me the information on Revelation 16.

  
  Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. (Daniel 12: 10)
• Distinguish Spirits (Discernment). One who knows what is from God, what is from Satan and what may be of human origin.
• Leadership. One who sets goals for the future of the church based on the will of God and effectively communicates these goals to others.
• Great Faith. One who believes that God will act on their behalf. One who is confident about the will of God. Every human has been given some faith to know God. (Romans 12: 3) But the guidance faith is a greater faith.

Proof of God Gifts.
The ability to instantly control the physical and spiritual worlds and time in a public manner. While the guidance gifts are mainly in the head and mind of the person, these gifts are on public display. But they need other prerequisite gifts or are a special subset of other gifts. These gifts are like the fruit and the flower that opens to attract others around them to come to the garden. They are meant to call the world to God so that they no longer have an excuse to deny God.

• Healing. One who has instant control over biological systems and natural processes. Miracles that control time and biological reactions. It requires great faith.
• Miracles. One who has knowledge and control over the natural laws of biology, chemistry, aerodynamics, cosmology, physics, time, atoms and space. It requires great faith.
  • Raising the Dead. 1 Kings 17:17-24 (the son of the widow of Zarepeth); 2 Kings 4:25-37 (the son of the Shunammite woman). Luke 7:11-15 (the son of the widow of Nain); Luke 8: 41-56 (Jairus' daughter); John 11: 40-44 (Lazarus); Acts 9:36-41 (Dorcas); Acts 20:9-11 (Eutychus).
  • Chemistry. Jesus turns water to wine. (John 2: 1-10). Water purified with salt (2 Kings 2:19-22).
  • Communicate with Nature. Jesus calms the stormy sea (Matthew 8: 23-27).
  • Physics. Joshua stops the sun and moon (Joshua 10: 12-13). Stops the flow of rivers and seas. Moses parts the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 21-31). Joshua parts the Jordan river (Joshua 3: 15-17). Elisha parts river (2 Kings 2:14).
  • Controlling Planets and Gravity. In the Old Testament an Axe head floats (2 Kings 6: 5-7). Jesus walks on water (Matthew 14: 27-31). Jesus floats beyond the clouds (Acts 1: 9-10). Isaiah brings the shadow backwards (2 Kings 20: 11).
  • Multiplying Food. Feeds 5000 people and the women and children with two fish and five loaves of bread (Matthew 14: 17-21). He feeds 4000 people and the women and children with seven loaves and a few fish (Matthew 15: 33-39). He makes the widows' depleted oil and flour supply food for a long time (1 Kings 17: 11-17). Oil multiplied (2 Kings 4:1-6).
  • Biology (Virgin Birth). While it is theoretically possible for a virgin to give birth to a female child since her eggs have only the "X" chromosome, it is impossible for her to have a male child. But Mary had a son. (Luke 1: 34-35)
    Animal genes changed when exposed to a spotted and striped stick as they mated (Genesis 30: 33-43; 31: 9-13).
• Exorcism. One who has authority over Satan and his angels. My problem with current exorcists is that they do not appear to have the authority that comes with the gift. Their exorcisms take days or hours. They cannot distinguish between mental illness and possession. They confuse issues of temperance and self control with "demons of cigarette" and "demons of drugs and alcohol". They use charms like holy water and holy oil, as if Satan is afraid of these things or afraid of going to church! He is not! They do not have the prerequisites of faith and discernment which are a part of this gift. Satan is afraid of you, when you believe that God will act when you ask. I believe that the true gift must work immediately.
  
  Possessed by the Holy Spirit. There appears to be a legitimate possession by the Holy Spirit. Just like other twisted acts of Satan, demon possession seems to be a terrible misuse of an ability that is unique to spiritual creatures.
  • Ezekiel. The Spirit entered him and moved his body.
    Then He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet so that I may speak with you". As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me. (Ezekiel: 2: 1-2)
  • Ezekiel. The Spirit entered him and transported his body a great distance with the chariot of God.
    Then the spirit lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord in this place." And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels behind them, even a great rumbling sound. ... so the Spirit lifted me up and took me away ... then I came to the land of the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there seven days where they were living, causing consternation among them. (Ezekiel: 3: 12-15)
  • Moses Shares the Spirit. The Spirit was taken from Moses and shared with others.
    The Lord therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of the meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak to you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burdens of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone". (Numbers: 11: 16-17)
  
  Exorcism in the Last Days. Earlier, I stated that this is a gift that might be predominant in the last days because of the increased demonic activity and desperation of Satan and his army.
  The Catholic church appears to be gearing up for performing exorcisms. Unfortunately, their guidelines for identifying a possessed person includes the following tests.
  1. Aversion to Religious Things. So, whose standard of "religious things" are we ignoring? This could be the reaction of the saints when they try to force us to accept idolatrous religious practices. Is it an aversion if I choose to worship on Saturday instead of Sunday? Is it an aversion if I do not want to bow down to idols or pray to Mary and the saints or participate in the mass? I prefer the Protestant communion services and I have an aversion to idolatry.
  2. Possessing Hidden Knowledge. This could be the gift of wisdom and knowledge.
  3. Speaking in a Foreign Language. This could be the gift of tongues.
  4. Super Human Strength. Strength was a legitimate gift to Samson. If I am being forced to eat or drink or bow down before a useless statue and I resist, does this count?
  My problem is that these "tests" identify the qualities that the church will have when the latter rain falls!
• Communication. These gifts are a special subset of the gift of knowledge. They are based on knowledge about languages and are probably downloaded in the same way.
  • Tongues. The ability to speak in a real language that you do not know. It is not the ability to learn languages quickly or to teach yourself new languages. With this gift, you instantly know a foreign language that you were not trained in and did not know one second before receiving it.
  • Interpret Tongues. The ability to translate a real language that you do not know. This person usually translates the words of the person who is speaking in tongues.
  • Communicating with Animals and Nature. God talked to Baalam's donkey. He made a fish swallow Jonah and swallow coins to pay taxes. A bird fed Elijah. Jesus talked to the storm. God even claims to be able to make "the stones cry out" (Luke 19: 40). He can have a two-way communication at the molecular level.
• Fruit of the Spirit. The love and unity of the church is the proof of God that He ultimately requires from the church. The proof of God is when the Holy Spirit completes His Work and writes the law of God in our hearts.
  The glory which you have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that they world may know that You sent Me, and loved them even as You have loved Me. (John: 17: 22-23)
  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. (John: 15: 8)

  Love is the Better Way.
  No matter how spectacular they are, the gifts are temporary abilities given to some people which will not survive in the new earth. There are other things that are even greater and these will be with us for eternity. And every Christian will have these.
  They are the fruits of the Spirit.
  "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love I am nothing." ... Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away. (1 Corinthians 13: 1, 2, 8)
  
  The spectacular gifts are temporary. They can never substitute for the fruit of the Spirit, especially love. The ideal circumstances are for the church to grow the fruit of the Spirit so that they can fight evil and demonstrate the character of God to the world. Then God equips them with the gifts to do service.

Other Gifts and Abilities.
The list in the New Testament by no means covers all the abilities of the Holy Spirit. We can find many other gifts in the Bible. Some people do not recognize these as gifts because they are outside the traditional lists in Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. But I recognized some of these abilities in me as extraordinary supernatural abilities, not just as talents. So I searched the Old Testament for examples.

• Arts and Crafts. In Exodus 35: 30-35, God gave two men (Bezalel and Oholiab) the ability to create the furnishings and the sanctuary according to the heavenly pattern. They had the ability to work creatively with all types of materials and textiles. He told Noah how to build the ark. A bronze worker helped to build Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7: 14). Knowledge is communicated through visual objects and symbols.
• Scribe. One who preaches and teaches with the pen. People who have musical abilities often have the ability to write inspiring words in their songs. David wrote the Psalms. Some do not have the ability to teach in public but they do have the ability to write and illustrate effectively with printed words, poetry and sound. Knowledge is communicated through reason.
• Music. One who represents God by praising Him through sound. Knowledge is communicated through emotion. (1 Chronicles 25)
• Interpretation of Prophetic Dreams. Joseph and Daniel had these gifts. Joseph interpreted the dreams of several people in Egypt. Daniel interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. Both men eventually held high political offices because they interpreted the dreams of the leader of the nation.
• Interpretation of Prophecy. The ability to understand the meaning of prophecies.
  He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end of time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. (Daniel 12: 9-10)
  God hid the meaning of prophecy during the time of persecution. Then, during the Great Awakening and the Advent movement he gave men like Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Joseph Wolfe, William Miller and many others the ability to interpret the prophecies of Daniel which God wanted to be understood at this time.
• Strength. Samson had incredible strength when the Spirit of the Lord came over him (Judges 14: 5-6).
• Courage. As a boy David had the courage to challenge Goliath when all of Israel was afraid.
  ... for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God.
  ... David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with him". (1 Samuel 17: 26, 32)
  The apostles spoke with boldness (Acts 9: 28; 14: 3; 18: 26).
  Deborah went to battle to encourage the army to fight Sisera when the men were afraid. (Judges 4: 8-9)
  Their courage was centered around honoring God.
• Teleportation. Ezekiel was taken to Tel-Abib. (Ezekiel 3: 12-15). Philip was taken away by the Holy Spirit after he baptized the eunuch.
  "And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing." (Acts 8: 38-40)

Permanent Gifts.
There are certain gifts that are permanent because they are God's way of fulfilling the covenant.

• Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to write the law in our hearts so that we will bear the fruit of the Spirit and we will not sin again.
  ... Repent, each of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2: 38)
• Eternal Life. This is given to the transformed people of God in heaven who will not sin.
  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6: 23)

Covet the Gifts.
The sin of covetousness is to want what is not yours or can never be yours. But the Bible tells us to covet or "earnestly desire" the best gifts. This means that although the Holy Spirit gives the gifts to whoever He wants, they are ours.
But earnestly desire the greater gifts ... (1 Corinthians 12: 31)
Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (1 Corinthians 14: 1)

Physical Manifestations of an Encounter with God.
Sometimes, one who has an encounter with God has an accompanying physical manifestation that represents His throne.

• Fire. A river of fire flows out of the throne of God. (Daniel 7: 9-10)
  • Fire. The disciples had tongues of fire above their heads at Pentecost.
    And there appeared to them tongues of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. (Acts 2: 3)
  • Light. Moses had a glow on his face after coming from Sinai. He had to hide his face from the people.
    ... Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ... the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him. (Exodus 34: 29, 35)
• Air. God has the breath of life (Genesis 2: 7).
  • Wind. At Pentecost they heard the wind.
    And suddenly there came from heaven, a noise, like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2: 2)
  • Breath. Prophets sometimes stop breathing. Since they are possessed with the Spirit who has the breath of life, they are physically sustained by this spiritual being.
    Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision. while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. ... As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me. ... I fell into a deep sleep on my face ... (Daniel 10: 7-9, 17)
    Another characteristic is a sudden deep sleep or trance. People near by might sense great fear.
• Water. A river of water flows out of the throne of God (Revelation 22: 1). Baptism represents the cleansing by the Holy Spirit.
• Rock. The throne of God was a blue stone (Ezekiel 1: 26). During the exodus Jesus appeared as a Rock that gave the water of life (1 Corinthians 10: 1-4,11). This Rock destroys the earth at the Second Coming.

Your Response.
God expects all Christians to work for His cause and tell others about His plan of salvation. He helps us by sending us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is not given to every human being. But every Christian receives this gift either at baptism or when the commitment to God is made.
While God can use the talent and abilities that you have acquired through study and experience, they are not gifts. Sometimes God gives you gifts that enhance your talent. At other times, your gift may be improved by formal training. But actually, it is most likely that your gift improves your formal training. This is only because it gives you confidence that you are doing work that others recognize as valuable.

But in my experience, all the gifts that God ever gave me were totally opposite of my own abilities. It is as if God is demonstrating to me that what I do is His work, not mine. I can take no credit for the work because I am constantly aware that this ability did not come from within me.
It also appears that as you faithfully use the gifts that you have been given, that He will eventually add more. I have a mixed bag of many gifts so I can comment on some of the surprising aspects.
When you have a gift you will know it. Most do not come with a declaration from God and the attending fire and thunder. But you will know that something wonderful and strange has happened and you may even be tempted to think that something is wrong because it slightly alters your reality. Some gifts appear to be on a continuum. You must receive one before the other. Also, other gifts are clearly helped by other unrelated gifts. While a person with the gift of knowledge may not be a prophet, a prophet must have some of the gift of knowledge. A martyr must first have the gifts of faith and courage. An exorcist must have faith, discernment and intercession. While celibacy is not a prerequisite to any gift, it certainly helps if you can devote the time.

The Greatest Evangelistic Team with the Greatest Message.
I believe in the ability of God to do anything. So, although the vast majority of the church seems to be preoccupied with success in this world. It is still possible for God to reach the entire world in one year by using a team of two or three people with the support of the local church, satellite and internet technology. This team could preach the great message about the love of God and His desire for humans to live.
The hospitality of the local church could support the team and the new members by helping during and after the crusades.
Satellite technology would broadcast the services live and taped within the region.
Internet technology could be used as a low cost distribution network and to teach with the Holy Spirit guiding the reader.
With the ability to teleport and the gift of tongues, this evangelistic team could minister in six time zones in one day. They could cover all nations in one year with a one week crusade preaching about the love of God. They could cover all nations in fifty days with a one day crusade.
With a worldwide event that compels all nations and news media to capture the event, they could reach the entire world in one day.
Using the curiosity and publicity generated by the sign gifts (healing, raising the dead and other miracles), the secular media would be begging to air these services at no cost.
Zechariah 12: 9-10 promises that God would pour out His Spirit in a spectacular way at the end of time so that Israel will be converted in one day. This is all Israel, Christians and Jews.
That day will be soon.